How About We Have a Cancer UNawareness Month? How about a HAM for the world?

First off, let me tell you I was diagnosed and treated for throat cancer in 2013, so I am not talking out of school. You can read about my cancer dance in a book which is for sale here: Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog. Having danced that dance gives me the latitude to discuss the potential of devoting a month to being more UNaware of cancer.

Actually, this concept will work for pretty much any DISease you want to use to fill in the blank. But my target today is cancer.

All due respect - I really think we are aware of cancer - breast cancer, testicular cancer, skin cancer, cancer cancer and every other cancer. We got it. The disease is out there and whacking people willy nilly.

I work, and will soon live in, Lowell, Michigan, a small town that has elevated cancer awareness to a new level. Our high school football coach created The Pink Arrow Project, which has done a HUGE amount for folks and families fighting cancer in our little slice of The Mitten. That is why we are the only town of our size to have a Gilda's Club. Google Pink Arrow Project and you can read ALL THIS. The Pink Arrow Project has been modeled and duplicated all over Michigan and the entire country. Bravo. Molto Bravo.

I appreciate Pink Arrow immensely, never thought I would benefit from it, but I did. Search for "throat cancer" on this blog, (Throat Cancer) and you can read about my adventure.

Now that I have paid not only my dues but my due respect to the Awareness Effort in general and specifically in my neck of the woods, I still want to make my point. How about we put aside the effort on behalf of disease and instead have a Health Awareness Month? Spend an entire month creating and promoting all the great things we can do to INCREASE our health and maximize the quality of life we can enjoy on our planet. Clever folks can come up with a logo - a slogan. Shoot, the acronym HAM (Health Awareness Month) screams all kinds of potential to me - since I am a wee bit of a ham my own self. Sure, we can come up with an alternative for all the vegans, vegetarians, and devout Muslims n Jews who might not want to associate with HAM - but you get my drift, right?

(Actually, they might have fun promoting a HAM we can all ingest........)

HAM would not have a root of fear - in fact my goal as the main ham promoting HAM would be to do my maximum best to keep fear way the hell away from our month of celebrating, documenting, promoting, and shouting from the roof tops about health, healthiness, and healthy activity. Our root motivation will be joy, happiness, sunshine and love.

For those of you ready to kick my healthy ass, let me reference one example. In fact, this example is what solidified the concept of HAM in my brain pan. God bless Angelina Jolie. Because doctors discovered a genetic mutation, BRCA1, in her body that MIGHT indicate an increased risk in her chances of breast cancer, she had both of her breasts removed. She later had her ovaries removed. I certainly respect her decision to do what she did with her body. It is her body after all.

That being said, the downside of all this BRCA-awareness is that lot of women all over the world followed her lead. The science of the BRCA mutation thing leading to cancer is NOT a settled debate by any means. Here is part of what the folks at Mayo Clinic say on their website:

"A BRCA gene test determines whether you carry an inherited BRCA mutation. If you do, your result is positive and your doctor can help you understand your cancer risk. If you don't have a mutation, this is considered a negative result. However, you may learn you have a gene variant that doctors aren't sure about. It may or may not be associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This result is known as a variant of uncertain significance." (read the rest here)

I draw your attention to "it may or may not be associated with an increased risk". According to Mayo it may be an indicator or it MIGHT NOT BE. Other experts put the increased risk at any number of places as is indicated by these paragraphs from the National Cancer Institute Website:

"Breast cancer: About 12 percent of women in the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives (4). By contrast, according to the most recent estimates, 55 to 65 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 mutation and around 45 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by age 70 years (5, 6).

Ovarian cancer: About 1.3 percent of women in the general population will develop ovarian cancer sometime during their lives (4). By contrast, according to the most recent estimates, 39 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 mutation (5, 6) and 11 to 17 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2mutation will develop ovarian cancer by age 70 years (5, 6)." (read it all here.)

There appears to be anywhere from a "maybe" to a 65% chance of the genetic mutation being a factor in breast cancer. If we split maybe and 65% we would be at 32.5% - how about we err on the generous side and go 50/50 for the sake of discussion. Am I saying AJ did a bad thing by removing her breasts and later ovaries because of a 50/50 chance? Nope - her body, her choice.

What I do lament is the fact that lots of women all over the world followed her lead. When you read the mountains of articles on her decision and the subject in general the overwhelming amount of it emphasizes the 50% chance of actually getting the cancer when in theory at least, there should be an equal number of articles emphasizing the 50% of ladies for whom the BRCA INDICATES NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF. (Never mind places like Mayo who use the words "may or may not" when discussing BRCA.)

Is the glass half empty? Is it half full? Should you really remove parts of your body based on a) the well meaning decision of a celebrity and b) scientific evidence that at worst gives you a 50/50 chance? My thinking is that if we have a bunch of HAMs over the coming years, people might move in the direction of half full view of the glass of life.

How about we take a month to focus solely on the half full part of the glass? How about we take a month to focus our attention, words, writing, t-shirts, slogans, logos, corporate sponsor ships, walk-a-thons, etc. etc. etc. on the potential of being healthy?

Popular posts from this blog

May 29, 2011 - This post has been up since June 2008. I am amazed at the number of people who read it. There are several hundred page views every month. Please take the time to read the various comments after my post. In addition to some success stories, I have been diligent to put up comments from people who don't agree with my thinking and/or experience on this matter. My purpose in writing this was NOT to try to convince others to do what I did, but rather to share my experience. Anyway - since doing this I have not had any further issues with gallstones or pain (knock on wood, toss salt over my shoulder, etc. etc.).I am not trying to replace a visit to the doctor, just sharing what I did and inviting others to share their experience - even when it does not line up with mine.

January 8, 2012 - the comments and readers keep coming. I thought I should mention one more thing. If you take the time to read all the comments you will find some variations on the recipe I followed. I me…

The KCYF is going to move to a bigger, better location and they hope to open by 2020 Fair.
Here is a link to their Press Release on the subject: KCYF is Moving

Bravo says I. Many are lamenting the moving of the KCYF - but not me! First, the fact of the matter is that the Fair has outgrown (overgrown?) the space they have currently. That is a good, no that is a GREAT thing. Growing things are healthy things. The Fair is wonderful for a huge variety of reasons and the fact that it is growing is a sign of good health. Our kids were involved and I know firsthand the good that comes from KCYF, so the fact that it has to move from the current space is awesome.

Secondly - we now have the opportunity to realize the dream of Jim Hall and many others. Most times when I cross the bridge and look at the current fairgrounds, I like to envision it as "The Bev & Jim Hall Campground." (Or "Jim & Bev Hall" - I just thought it would be fun to put Bev's name first.) Yessi…

We always get some ants in the late spring/early summer at our house. It is an annual tradition. Usually they are around for a week or two and then they take off for parts unknown. This year they must have decided our house is a very, very, very fine house indeed. Found them in the sugar, they massed in the dishwasher, but when I poured out a few dozen of them along with my cereal one morning, I knew I had to draw a line in the sugar.

Time to poison the little bastiges.

On my weekly visit to the grocery store I was looking for ant killer and was trying to find a bottle of Terro liquid. The ONLY thing they stocked was the Raid Ant Bait thingies pictured here:
Since I had no choice, I bought some. I bought two boxes of 4 and followed the instructions by putting them in the ant paths I could see. Put one under the sink, up by the sugars, in the cereal cupboard, one in the corner in the dishwasher (with just 2 of us in the house now we only run it every 4-5 days) and several along the co…